Guellich Aziz A Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, - - 2010

Adenylyl cyclase (AC) type 5 (AC5) and AC type 6 (AC6) are the two major AC isoforms in the heart. Cardiac overexpression of AC6 has been shown to be protective in response to several interventions. In this investigation, we examined the effects of chronic pressure overload in AC6 transgenic (TG) ...

Although typically derived from the contour of arterial pressure waveform, augmentation index (AIx) may also be derived from the digital pulse volume waveform using finger plethysmography (peripheral arterial tonometry, PAT). Little is known regarding the physiologic correlates of AIx derived from PAT. In this study, we investigated the relation of ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Limited information is available on the association between left ventricular (LV) geometric patterns defined according to updated criteria and blood pressure (BP) levels and extra-cardiac organ damage (OD) in human hypertension. Thus, in untreated essential hypertensives we assessed the relationship between LV geometry, ambulatory BP and markers ...

OBJECTIVE: It is unclear whether improvement of left atrial (LA) and ventricular (LV) structure results in reduction in new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of the present study was to examine whether changes in-treatment LA diameter were related to changes in risk of new-onset AF. METHODS: We followed 939 hypertensive ...

Electrocardiographic strain pattern (ECGS) is a well-recognized marker of the presence and severity of anatomic left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and also has been associated with adverse prognosis in hypertensive patients. Left ventricular (LV) endomyocardial radial strain (Endo-RS) is predominant in systolic LV wall thickening compared with epimyocardial radial strain (Epi-RS) ...

To compare the prevalence of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction in subjects with and without rheumatoid arthritis (RA), among those with no history of heart failure (HF), and to determine risk factors for diastolic dysfunction in RA. A cross-sectional, community-based study comparing cohorts of adults with and without RA and ...

Left ventricular torsion (LVtor) measures the rotational deformation of the myocardium and plays an important role in LV contraction and filling. Two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has been validated as a reproducible non-invasive technique to assess LVtor. LVtor is altered in many disease states, but the effects of loading ...

This prospective randomized study aims to evaluate and compare the effects of isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane (study drugs) on left ventricular (LV) diastolic function in patients with impaired LV relaxation due to ischemic heart disease using transesophageal Doppler echocardiography. After approval of the local ethics committee and informed consent, 45 ...

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has several negative effects on the heart including increase in myocardial end-systolic stress, venous return and sympathetic activity, all potential stimuli of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. The impact of the severity of OSA on LV geometry is unknown. We hypothesized that OSA is related to ...

This case describes a middle-aged patient with normal ejection fraction (64%) and significant dyspnoea which could not be explained by results from routine examinations. A pressure-volume loop analysis revealed severe left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony to be the underlying mechanism of heart failure. The patient underwent implantation of a biventricular pacemaker. ...

Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a marker of arterial stiffness, is an established cardiovascular risk factor of ventricular stiffening. We studied the association of baPWV with left-ventricular (LV) diastolic function in a sub-study of the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. In all, 378 Chinese subjects with a normal ejection fraction (>50%) ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to diagnose heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) in outpatients with unexplained chronic dyspnea and to elucidate its underlying mechanisms in this population using invasive pressure-volume loop analysis. BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of HFPEF in stable outpatients with unexplained dyspnea is difficult. ...

This study sought to test the hypothesis that pressure stress of the adenylyl cyclase 6-deleted (AC6-KO) heart would result in excessive hypertrophy, early dilation and dysfunction, and increased fibrosis. Cardiac-directed AC6 expression attenuates left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and dysfunction in cardiomyopathy. AC6-KO and control (CON) mice underwent transverse aortic constriction ...

Obesity and hypertension are associated with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. Whether an increased body mass index (BMI) affects LV hypertrophy in patients with asymptomatic aortic stenosis independent of hypertension is not known. We used the clinical blood pressure, BMI, and echocardiographic findings recorded at baseline of 1,703 patients with asymptomatic ...

The presence of aortic sclerosis has been associated with increased LV mass, particularly in hypertensive subjects. However, aortic sclerosis has also been associated with endothelial dysfunction, which may provide stimuli for development of left ventricular hypertrophy independent of afterload. Thus, we have sought to determine whether aortic sclerosis is a ...

The transmitral Doppler E-wave "delayed relaxation" (DR) pattern is an established sign of diastolic dysfunction (DD). Furthermore, chambers exhibiting a DR filling pattern are also expected to have a prolonged time-constant of isovolumic relaxation (tau). The simultaneous observation of a DR pattern and normal tau in the same heart is ...

Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is widely used as a marker of arterial stiffness, but there are no data regarding the usefulness of measuring baPWV in hypertensive patients after stroke. The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical significance of baPWV by assessing its correlation with echocardiographic parameters ...

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), a circulating vasoactive peptide with potent vasoconstricting and mitogenic properties, may contribute to target-organ damage in hypertension. We investigated whether plasma levels of C-terminal pro-endothelin-1 (CT-pro-ET-1) are associated with left ventricular (LV) mass and aortic root diameter in African-American adults with hypertension. Plasma CT-pro-ET-1 was measured by an ...

There are few data on adding left atrial volume index (LAVi) or pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PAP) to the ratio of early mitral inflow to mitral annular velocity (E/e') for the estimation of left ventricular (LV) filling pressure in patients with preserved LV ejection fractions (LVEFs) (>50%). Patients underwent echocardiography ...

There are several methods of assessing total arterial compliance (TAC) based on the two element Windkessel model, which is a ratio of pressure and volume, but the optimal technique is unclear. In this study, three methods of estimating TAC were compared to determine which was the most robust in a ...

BACKGROUND: Quantification of left ventricular torsion may provide new indices of systolic and diastolic function. We sought to characterize the effect of acute manipulation of load on cardiac torsion, plecotropy in human subjects. METHODS: Simultaneous Millar LV pressure, micromanometry, and echocardiograms were performed on 18 patients (10 male, mean age ...

OBJECTIVE: In our study, we tried to find an answer to the question "How could the association between left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDDF) and increased aortic stiffness (IAS) be explained?" METHODS: Cases without coronary artery disease (CAD) were divided into three groups according to their left ventricular (LV) inflow patterns ...

Hasegawa Takuya T Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, - - 2010

Increased left ventricular (LV) mass and endothelial dysfunction are important risk factors for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. However, it is not clear whether endothelial dysfunction is associated with increased LV mass. We tested the hypothesis that impaired flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) is associated with increased LV mass in a population-based multiethnic ...

The contribution of left ventricular (LV) untwisting to LV suction and early-diastolic filling was previously demonstrated, but this was not yet tested in patients with aortic stenosis (AS). We sought to assess the relationship between LV untwisting and LV filling pressures in patients with severe AS and normal left ventricular ...

Rolandi M M Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1105AZ, The Netherlands. - - 2010

The Valsalva maneuver (VM) provokes strong changes in the cardiovascular system and is therefore well suited to study the cardiac-coronary interaction in humans. In 12 patients undergoing catheterization we simultaneously recorded aortic pressure, left ventricular pressure, and intracoronary pressure (Pd) and flow velocity (U) while the patients were performing a ...

Thiazolidinediones, used for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), are associated with an increased incidence of heart failure. We sought to investigate the effects of pioglitazone on novel echocardiographic indices of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function in DM2 patients with LV diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). Eighty-eight asymptomatic ...

OBJECTIVE: The development of animal models of cardiovascular disease are critical to define pathophysiological mechanisms and to advance diagnosis and therapy. The lack of a suitable animal model represents a failure to define the mechanisms responsible for postmenopausal myocardial hypertrophy in hypertension and adverse cardiac remodeling. METHODS: In this review, ...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered the liver component of the metabolic syndrome. We investigated the diastolic and systolic functional parameters of patients with NAFLD and the impact of metabolic syndrome on these parameters. Thirty-five non-diabetic, normotensive NAFLD patients, and 30 controls, were included in this study. Each patient ...

Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is common among patients on hemodialysis. While a relationship between blood pressure (BP) and LV hypertrophy has been established, it is unclear which BP measurement method is the strongest correlate of LV hypertrophy. We sought to determine agreement between various blood pressure measurement methods, as well ...

Gene expression, determined by micro-array analysis, and left ventricular (LV) remodeling associated with the transition to systolic heart failure (HF) were examined in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). By combining transcript and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of the LV with assessment of function and structure in age-matched SHR with ...

The elevation of left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP) could be an important prognostic factor in patients with hypertension. We hypothesized that noninvasive brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is associated with increased LVFP in hypertensive patients with LV hypertrophy (LVH). We enrolled patients with well-controlled hypertension for more than 1 year ...

Mexican Americans have exhibited increases in various coronary heart disease risk factors compared to European Americans but have also had reportedly lower coronary heart disease mortality from vital statistics studies. We hypothesized this apparent paradox might relate to lower levels of subclinical disease in Mexican Americans. A total of 105 ...

Stansfield William E WE Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, - - 2009

Maladaptive left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) remains a prevalent and highly morbid condition associated with end-stage heart disease. Originally evaluated in the context of bone development, periostin is important in endocardial cushion formation and has recently been implicated in heart failure. Because of its potential role in cardiovascular development, we sought ...

To study the left and right ventricular function and to assess the predictors of increased left ventricular (LV) filling pressure in dialysis patients with preserved LV ejection fraction. This study included 63 consecutive patients (age 57+/-14 years, 57% women) with end-stage renal failure. Echocardiography, including tissue Doppler measurements, was performed ...

Remodelling of the left ventricle (LV) is associated with adverse cardiovascular events, but the mechanisms of these effects remain undefined. We investigated the relationship of LV mass and geometry to LV function in a large cohort of hypertensive subjects. We studied 1074 hypertensive individuals without cardiovascular disease recruited from the ...

Little information is available about the burden of hypertension on echo-lab activity in current practice. The aim of the present nation-wide survey in outpatient echo-labs was to investigate the prevalence rates of (1) echo examinations performed for the evaluation of hypertensive cardiac damage; (2) reports providing quantitative data on left ...

Pressure overload has been shown to induce mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and reactivate the atrial natriuretic factor in the heart. To test the sensitivity of these signals to pressure overload, we assayed the activity of MAPKs extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1, and p38 in protein lysates from ...

Heart failure induced by aortic stenosis in young guinea pigs could constitute an interesting model for pharmacology, but its natural history needs to be characterized. One hundred five guinea pigs (3-4 weeks old) underwent thoracic aortic banding with 12- (B12G) or 14-gauge (B14G) needles or similar sham operations (S12G, S14G). ...